The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon said Palestinian refugees could march to the borders with Israel more frequently to emphasize the right of return, while stressing that the action was part of a wider peaceful resistance taking place in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“This [march] is not a continuous battle [on the border] – it is backed by peaceful popular resistance, which is taking place in the [occupied] Palestinian territories … in rejection of Israeli occupation,” Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah said in an interview with The Daily Star at the embassy in Beirut Thursday. “These marches may take place more frequently,” he said.
Abdullah said such actions aimed at expressing the “Palestinian people’s commitment to its internationally-recognized rights of self determination, of returning to its homeland and of establishing its independent state.”
On May 15, Israel shot dead 11 Palestinians on Lebanon’s southern border as thousands of unarmed Palestinians flocked to the frontier to mark 63 years of expulsion from their homeland.
Deaths were also reported in the Gaza Strip and Syria during similar protests. The march is planned to be repeated on June 5, to mark Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza strip and East Jerusalem during the war of 1967, which resulted in the mass eviction of Palestinians as well.
Abdullah said efforts to protect protesters would be made at the upcoming march.
Asked about any practical steps to be taken in Lebanon in light of the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas inked earlier this month in Cairo, Abdullah said that “popular committees” embracing all Palestinian groups would be formed in refugee camps in Lebanon.
“Every camp will have one popular committee, which embraces all Palestinian factions … we want a united position on how Palestinian refugees should live in Lebanon … we have turned the page of division forever,” he said.
The Palestinian ambassador said the embassy was making efforts to improve the living conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, saying a draft law on the matter, endorsed by Parliament last summer, was insufficient.
“It’s unfair that a Palestinian physician who was born and educated in Lebanon be deprived of practicing his profession just because he is a Palestinian,” he said. “He lives in Lebanon and will spend his income in the country.”
An estimated 400,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon, many of whom reside in 12 refugee camps across the country. They are barred from self-employed professions and property ownership.
Abdullah noted that granting Palestinians access to self-employed professions would not take away job opportunities from Lebanese, since the number of Palestinians seeking such jobs was very low compared to the Lebanese, adding that Palestinian officials were explaining this to professional associations.
“At the same time, we are following up with the government regarding the right to practice [certain] professions and buy property,” he said.
Some fear that granting these rights to the Palestinians would be a prelude to settling them in Lebanon, which would alter the country’s delicate sectarian balance and is unconstitutional.
But Abdullah dismissed such fears, saying: “You have seen all these young Palestinians who sacrificed their lives [on May 15] just to say that they have no alternative [country] other than their beloved Palestine.”
Abdullah highlighted the difficulties which Palestinians in Lebanon faced due to the lack of access to property ownership.
“Where should a Palestinian who is prevented from buying a house live? Palestinians can’t even inherit their parent’s property,” he said.
Abdullah said that the Labor Ministry had issued a decree Monday regarding last year’s law, enabling Palestinians to benefit from a separate social security fund fed by Palestinian workers in Lebanon.
“We are studying it with the help of lawyers to determine its advantages,” the ambassador said.
Abdullah blamed Lebanese authorities for the delay in disarming groups outside Palestinian refugee camps, which was agreed upon by top Lebanese politicians during National Dialogue sessions.
“President Mahmoud Abbas informed officials during his visit to Lebanon in December 2009 that we support everything that the Lebanese agree upon regarding arms outside camps, but there are other non-Palestinian factors [hindering the issue],” he said.
Abdullah complained about the slow pace of the reconstruction process of Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in the north along with “very difficult” measures taken by the Lebanese Army.
“Four years after the destruction of the camp, only 41 apartments have been reconstructed so far, this is an unconvincing [result]; it’s a real crisis,” he said.
The camp was reduced to rubble in summer 2007 during clashes between the Lebanese Army and militants from Fatah al-Islam group, which took over the area. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency is carrying out reconstruction works.
“Some Palestinians need to get three permits to enter the camp [as ordered by the Lebanese army], this is impractical,” he said.
Also, Abdullah said he would discuss with the Cabinet the holding of another separateconference for donor states to cover for a funding shortage in the re-building process which was funded by a similar conference in Vienna in 2008.
The ambassador said that the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, which falls under the prime minister’s office, lacked an effective executive authority.
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